


The Stupidity Of Love

by Wizzy



Series: Love Is A Crazy Thing (Haikyuu Love Stories) [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aishiteru Banzai, Childishness, F/M, Football | Soccer, Lev Haiba is an Idiot, Love, Nekoma, Stupidity, Volleyball, vending machines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-04 05:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5322857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wizzy/pseuds/Wizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A simple meeting that led to a simple friendship... Sounds pretty boring, right? Wrong! When you've caught Lev Haiba's attention, life is anything but boring. But just what is this guy after? It's not like I'm anything special, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Soccer Meets Volleyball

_Alright, you can do this._ Currently I stood outside the gym doors. This was where the boys' volleyball club was practicing and I knew they'd probably be here late, but still I had to try.  _It's not like they're gonna try anything funny. The worst that could happen is that they tell me to get lost._

“They might be a little intimidating, but they can't be that bad. Right S.B.?” I held my soccer ball up as I asked the question. Obviously, I didn't get any sort of response. S.B. was just a soccer ball after all. But to me, S.B. meant a lot.

Tucking S.B. under my arm, I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Inside was exactly what I'd expected. The volleyball team was hard at practice. Watching them, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous. They were a real team and the girls soccer team... well, it simply wasn't.

Once they stopped a moment to take a break, I approached them. They didn't really seem as intimidating as I'd heard. Then again, Shibayama was in my class and I'd heard him mention some of the other boys. Though I'd never really talked to him or his friends myself.

 _Just relax. Be confident and polite._ “Excuse me,” I said, mentally face-palming myself when my voice came out smaller and weaker than I intended. Clearing my throat, I tried again with better results. “I'm with the girls' soccer club and we were wondering if we could borrow a corner of the gym for today's practice...”

The captain looked at me with an eyebrow raised. What was his name... Kuroo? Yeah, that was it... “Why don't you just practice with the boys team?” he asked with a neutral expression. I was certain he was planning out his refusal though. “Isn't that what you usually do?”

True, the two teams usually practiced together, but not anymore. “They're jerks, so we don't want to practice with them,” I said bluntly. “There's no where else that I can practice, besides the hallways. But the last time I tried that, the teachers got pretty mad.” Scratching the back of my head, I tried to give a playful smile.

“Why isn't your captain asking us?” one of the other boys chimed in. He was a first year, Inuoka, I thought his name was. From what I knew, he and Shibayama were pretty good friends. “Why send you?”

That answer was a simple one, though I'd hoped to avoid the subject. “We... don't have a captain...” I admitted. While I could have lied about it, I'd never been much of a liar. “Me and S.B. here are the only members.” I held up my soccer ball and smiled.

After receiving some looks from the coaches, I decided my time was up. At least I tried. “Forget it. It's just me, so it's not big deal if I miss a practice,” I sighed. With a wave, I started to walk away. “Good luck with practice!”

Once I was outside the door, I lingered there a moment. From inside, I could hear a few muffled voices, though I really couldn't tell who was saying what.

“We could let her practice here. I mean, it's just her, right?”

“What's the point of even practicing though if you're the only one? Might as well just be the manager for the guys.” Actually, they'd asked me a few times and I'd refused because, as I said, the guys on the team were jackasses.

“Why did she name her soccer ball?” That one made me laugh. Though the answer was a bit sad.

Shibayama, I knew would be the one to answer that. “It's her best friend. She takes it everywhere.”

“Doesn't she have any friends?”

That was when I decided not to listen anymore. In all honesty, I really wasn't friends with anyone. Sure, I knew a lot of people and we were on decent terms, but in the end, not one of them was someone I could call a friend.

I gave S.B. a quick hug and walked away. No point staying here any longer. Might as well head home.


	2. Interrupted Thoughts

After deciding that I was no longer going to practice with the boys soccer club, I had to find somewhere new to practice. But sadly, I'd made no progress whatsoever. I was almost tempted to ask the volleyball club one more time, but decided against it. It was unlikely they'd change their previous decision.

While absentmindedly doing my homework during the lunch break, I thought about the club I was in. With me being the sole member of the girls' soccer club, it really didn't matter if I practiced or not. It's not like I could be in any tournaments or matches. There was no reason to actually even continue the club at all, really.

I'd played soccer all through middle school, with a team even. I was one of the best on the team and had a chance to go to one of the better schools, though in the end I chose Nekoma because... well because I liked it better and figured their soccer team would be pretty good. But lucky me, I was all alone when I got into high school.

Maybe that was Fate's way of telling me it was time to quit.. maybe-

My thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar face appearing in front of me and a loud voice. “You look a lot smaller up close,” a gray-haired male said as he stared down at me. Or maybe not so unfamiliar... If my memory was correct, he was part of the volleyball team. “Yuuki said you're smart and that you could help me study since he can't.”

Glancing over, I saw Shibayama giving me an apologetic look and mouthing something that I assumed was 'sorry.' Returning my gaze to the tall boy staring down at me with an idiotic grin on his face, I nodded. “As long as it's not History, I can help.” That was actually a subject I'd always struggled with and hated. “I don't have any place to practice, I'm free anytime. So just let me know whenever... uh... I don't know your name.”

The giant looked shocked that I didn't know him. Why? Was I supposed to? Sure, I might have known a lot of people, but I didn't know everyone. “Lev,” he said with a stupid grin like I was supposed to recognize that name. “We can meet today after volleyball practice. ”

I nodded with a smile. “Alright, I'll meet you then.” As I tried to return to my textbook, Lev covered it with his hand, forcing me to look back at him.

“Come have lunch with me!” It was more of a statement than him asking. There was little room to argue it as he grabbed my hand and dragged me off with him. I barely even had time to grab SB as I was pulled along.

This Lev guy was definitely an odd one...


	3. He's An Idiot...

If you were to look at a picture of Lev, you might think he's serious and probably a bit intimidating. That's most definitely NOT how he really was. In fact, he might be the exact opposite. Sitting with him now, it was quite obvious.

I sat next to the tall boy on the bench as he ate his lunch. Today I hadn't felt like making my lunch and simply enjoyed the warmth of the sun. Didn't feel like eating today anyway. Sure, that is actually incredibly unhealthy, but it's not like I needed the energy for practice.

So instead I leaned back, relaxing under the sun's gentle heat with SB sitting on my lap. Such a peaceful and calm moment...

“You're not going to have lunch?” Or not...

I looked up at Lev, who currently had his face stuffed with food. “Don't really feel like it,” I shrugged.

“I'll share mine with you,” he offered, holding some up to me.

“I'm fine,” I said, shaking my head. “Besides, you'll need all your strength for later, so-” While I was trying to refuse, Lev had shoved a bite of his lunch into my mouth in the middle of my sentence. If I were to spit it out, that would be rude. So I was forced to eat whatever it was that this guy had just shoved into my mouth, which wasn't that bad since it at least tasted good.

“Thanks...” There wasn't much else I could say that wouldn't be incredibly rude other than a sarcastic thank-you.

The tall guy smiled a very idiotic looking grin. “You're welcome!”

… Does he not understand sarcasm... ? “You're very odd... uh... Lev?” I ask carefully. I'd only just met the guy, so you can't expect me to remember his name that easy. He nods, that idiotic grin still on his face. “You got a last name or a first to go with that?” When he looked at me with a look of slight confusion, I decided to make my question a bit more clear. “Your full name?”

“Lev Haiba,” he answered quickly once he knew exactly what I was asking him.

“I'm-”

“Reisa Matsukawa!” he answered for me.

How did he...? You know, I probably don't want to know. “Well that doesn't sound creepy at all,” I joked with a small laugh.

Lev just laughed. “Shibayama told me your name.” Ah, that would make sense. Still, it felt a little creepy knowing that he knew more about me than I knew about him and we'd only met not even an hour ago. “So it's really not creepy at all!”

I couldn't help but laugh. This guy was different all right. Not that that was a bad thing. “So you're part of the volleyball club, right?”

Apparently I'd just said the magic word because his face lit up like a Christmas tree. In mere seconds he went from somewhat calmly eating to very animatedly talking about volleyball. He was talking so excitedly that I almost couldn't keep up with him.

Though the longer I listened, one thought became more and more clear: this guy was very likely an idiot. Of course, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, fools always have the most fun. And right now, I had a feeling that this fool was about to bring some real fun back into my life.


	4. Teaching Lev

Lev had asked to meet up after his volleyball practice to study. But there were some issues with that that neither of us had really thought about at that time.

One of those being that after school practices for most of the sports teams tended to run a little late. That meant we'd only have a small amount of time to study.

Another was that I'd have to wait for him. If I actually had a place to do my own practices or if the boys that I used to practice with weren't jerks, I could have done that to pass the time. But no, they were and I didn't, so I had at least a couple hours to kill.

Sure, I could go home and then just come back, but what would really be the point? Besides, if they just happened to get done early, I wouldn't have any way of knowing if I weren't here. No, I was pretty much stuck here.

Unable to think of what else to do, I made my way to the gym where the volleyball club usually had their practices. If I had to wait for it to be over, then why not just watch? If the coaches allowed it, of course.

Standing outside the door now, I felt as nervous as I had before. I wasn't usually a nervous type, but typically coaches weren't that fond of random people watching their teams practice. I remember one time in middle school, one of the guys from the basketball club tried to watch us girls during practice and the coach nearly ripped off the poor boy's head. Obviously he didn't come back after that.

Taking a deep, relaxing breath, I quietly pushed open the door and slipped inside. Luckily the club members were still busy and didn't notice someone else had shown up. As I continued towards where the coaches were, a now familiar voice called out. “Hey Reisa!”

And cue the mental facepalm... I turned towards Lev's voice with a slightly embarrassed look on my face. He was waving at me with that idiotic smile, giving me no choice but to give a little wave back. So much for not being noticed...

“What are you doing here?” the captain asked, looking at me with his arms crossed.

How could I possibly explain it without sounding like I didn't have anywhere else I could be? “I've got some time to kill and figured I'd just watch you guys,” I said with a calm smile. Hopefully they didn't question me too much. “If it's alright with you guys, anyway.”

“She has to wait for Lev anyway,” Shibayama added, trying to help me out.

“Yep!” There was that idiotic grin on Lev's face again. Was he always this cheerful-looking? “She said she'd help me study since Shibayama said he's too busy!”

The other members of the team didn't say anything else. Though one of them appeared to be hiding behind one of the players that I didn't know. The captain looked over at the two coaches, silently giving them the decision on whether or not I was allowed.

“I see no reason why she can't stay,” the older one said, a friendly smile on his face. If I remembered correctly, he was Coach Nekomata. “As long as she doesn't get in the way or become a distraction.”

 

For all his excitement about volleyball during our lunch conversation, he was actually quite terrible. But if you considered that this was the first year that he'd played, wasn't that bad. Not quite terrible, but still pretty bad. His massive height was probably a huge help and without it, he probably wouldn't have taken Inuoka's place as a regular. Or so I heard.

Maybe that was why he was taking this studying thing seriously. Based on what I'd been told by Shibayama, Kuroo and a few other members of the team, if his grades slipped any lower, Lev wouldn't be allowed to play. And unfortunately, no one wanted to help the poor boy, many of them making the excuse that they didn't have time or saying their grades were bad too.

However, there was one member of the team who simple said no without bothering to make an excuse. That was their setter, a second year whose name I remembered Lev saying was Kenma. From what I could tell, Kenma seemed to dislike Lev, though I couldn't figure out the exact reason why.

His teammates seemed a little too eager to get rid of him after practice had come to an end. They practically shoved him out the door, insisting that he leave right away saying things like “Studying is more important right now” and “You kept your friend waiting long enough now go before she changes her mind about helping you.” It almost made me wonder if they really just wanted to get rid of him.

Now we were sitting in his room, getting everything ready to start studying. Sitting in the living room would have been preferable, but his bedroom was the quietest room. Take what you can get, I guess.

I glanced around the room. It was actually a lot more normal than I’d expected, but then again, Lev seemed to be full of surprises. However, one thing in his bedroom definitely stood out.

“Lev, what is that?” I pointed over to one corner of his room. There stood a life size cardboard of a familiar looking girl wearing cat ears and a tail.

I actually knew exactly who she was. That girl was the lead singer for a new popular bad called Kokoro Claw. Each of the members went by a stage name that was cat-related; the lead's being KittyKat. There songs were good and catchy, the kind that you don't mind having stuck in your head. However, I think they were getting a lot more attention than necessary. They were still high schoolers after all.

“The most amazing singer ever.” He then went on to talk about the singer and the rest of her band. He sounded really excited about it and I really couldn't understand a thing he was saying. One thing was very obvious though.

“Okay, so you're a fan of her,” I said, calmly summing it all up. It was clear he was pretty obsessed, but this was pretty weird. Though I guess that's just Lev for you. “But is a cardboard cutout of her really necessary?”

Oh look at that, Lev is actually frowning. Somewhat. “You don't like her?”

Did I dislike KittyKat? No. Was I a fan? Not exactly. “I like her, but I'm not crazy enough to have a giant cardboard cutout of her. That's just weird.”

Lev sat on floor, his mouth hanging open but no sound coming out. In the short day that I'd known him, this was the only time I hadn't seen him acting extremely hyper or talking non-stop. It was almost scary. Could what I'd said really have upset him enough to cause this?

“Lev?” The tall boy just pulled his knees up to his chest and turned away from me. So I tried again. “Lev...” He put his head down, burying it in his arms. Yep, he was trying to ignore me. “Lev, come on.” Nothing.

I gently touched his arm, trying to force his attention to me. “Lev, we're supposed to be studying.” He lifted his head slightly, just enough to peek out at me. So childish... “This is going to be a long night...”

The rest of our time was spent dragging Lev out of his mood. After having to apologize several times and being stubborn about it, I finally got him back to normal. But by then it was already too late to get anything done.

Day One of Studying: Complete Failure.


	5. Vending Machine Mishap

After having failed to get anything done that first day, Lev decided, or rather his teammates forced him, to take our study sessions more seriously. Any day that he failed to study, he'd be put through hell the next day during volleyball practice. I felt sorry for him, but after that first time, it proved to be a very effective method.

We had agreed to meet every day to study. Except Sunday. Even if he was a nice guy, dealing with Lev every single day would be too much. Everyone needs a break sometime, you know?

He'd often insist on having lunch together and I’d also help him with his homework or we'd review what we'd studied the last time. Today though, things went a little differently. Unlike the last couple days, Lev hadn't come to my classroom during lunch to drag me off to wherever he felt like going.

So during my lunch break, I did something I didn't usually do; I wandered around the school. With SB tucked under my arm, I encountered almost nothing. Though there was one thing I saw that would definitely be the highlight of my day. Or maybe week. Hell, probably even the entire month.

“Lev?”

At the sound of my voice, the boy looked up at me with an embarrassed grin. His hand, or rather, his whole arm was inside the vending machine. Lev's body was sitting on the ground right in front of it and he didn't appear to be in any hurry to get out of there.

You can guess what that meant. “You're stuck, aren't you?”

He opened his mouth, probably to make up an excuse, but just closed it again and nodded. For some reason, this really didn't surprise me. “It got stuck, so I thought maybe I could reach it and get it unstuck...”

“... and you got stuck in the process,” I finished with a small laugh. Walking around to his back, I knelt down. “Hold on, I'll get you out.” I set SB down beside the machine and placed a hand on Lev's shoulder. “Now just relax and let me control you for a minute.”

Carefully, I had him lean back a bit. Reaching up to his arm, I grabbed on. After a bit of work, I successfully freed his arm from the machine. And as his way of thanking me, I was tackled to the ground in a hug.

“Thanks!” he said excitedly, still squeezing me tightly. As I opened my mouth to insist that he let go, I was released from his grip and he stared unhappily at the machine. “But it's still stuck...”

“Which one was it?” He answered by pointing to the object he'd failed to get.

With a playful grin, I pulled out the sticky notepad that I always carried and stuck one of them on the machine in just the right spot. _Target marked._ Next I scooped up SB and set him down again just the right distance from the machine. _Take aim_. Lining it up just right, I smiled and did what I had to. _Fire!_

The ball hit the front of the machine, making Lev's trapped snack fall. “That's amazing!” An idiotic grin covered his face and his eyes were full of amazement. “How did you know that would work?”

“There was a vending machine at my middle school that got stuck like that all the time.” I smiled at him as I remembered all the times I'd had to deal with these situations. Well, not the arm-being-stuck part. That sort of a first for me. “That's why I started carrying SB around all the time. Everyone would always ask me to get their stuff unstuck-”

The school bell rang, signaling that we were supposed to be in class right now. “We're late!” Instantly, I ran off, trying to hurry to class before I was too late. What I didn't realize though, was that I'd completely forgotten my best friend.

“You're late,” the teacher said in a very bored tone as I reached my classroom. “Sit down before I decide to give you a detention.”

Not wanting to argue it, I nodded. “Yes ma'am.”

“It's not her fault!” an all too familiar and energetic voice said from the doorway. My head snapped around to see Lev standing there with SB held in his hands. “She was helping me, so it's my fault.”

As I approached him and took SB back from him, one of my classmates decided to be funny. “You got your arm stuck in the vending machine again, didn't you?” The entire class laughed as a slight blush of embarrassment appeared. Though it could only be seen from the distance between us.

“ _Again_?” The teacher was surprised that it had happened more than once. “You mean to tell me you're stupid enough to try that again after getting stuck once?”

“It's been at least seven times since the beginning of the year, actually,” Shibayama said, embarrassing poor Lev even further. Now the boy's face was red with embarrassment, causing even more laughter. Even the teacher was laughing.

And maybe I giggled a little too. “Next time, just come get me first, alright?” I said through my giggles while everyone else wasn't listening. At that, Lev went back to normal and laughed at himself a bit. If you can't laugh at yourself, then what fun is life? “Study after practice today?”

My only response was a quick nod and that cute, idiotic grin of his.

 


	6. A Side That I Didn't Know

It was finally Sunday. Finally a day free of Lev. Of course, when it was just me and my mother, there was no such thing as a completely free day. My mother ended up sending me out to pick up a few things that we needed around the house.

As I made my way back home, I thought I heard singing. It appeared to be coming from the direction I needed to go, so I figured I might as well investigate. The closer I got to home, the louder and clearer the singing became. Soon, I could clearly see the source of it.

Near my home was a small park where a lot of the kids who lived nearby liked to play. With the big apartment building right there, it was rare for anything to happen there, so it was a safe place for the kids. I'd often gone there myself and had made friends with most of the kids who went there regularly.

Right now, a whole little group of them were singing together. And right there in the middle of the group was a silver-haired boy who was sitting on top of the monkeybars with a much too familiar idiotic grin and leading the song. It might not have sounded the best, but it was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen.

Even though I should have been getting home, I couldn't help but stay and watch them. Lev tried to be cool and hang upside down, but only ended up falling off of them. Before he could even get back up, he was tackled by several of the kids. It was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen.

Laughing and playing and singing... it was like looking at an entirely different Lev. Who knew he would be so good with kids? Though when you think about how he's pretty much a gigantic child himself, it seems pretty believable. Still, it was nice to see such a sweet side of him.

When they all noticed me watching though, the song stopped. I hadn't wanted that, so I decided to sing the part that would have come next.

_Tokidoki ame ga furu n da Kaze de miki ga yureru_

_Issho ni iku n da Minna no yume no ki yo sodate_

“Love Live, right?” I said once I'd finished the next couple lines of the song. While I wasn't a fan, I had to admit that particualar song was really nice. Possibly even a favorite of mine.

“Reisa!”

“Rei-chan!”

“Sa-chan!”

As most of the children rushed forward to greet me, Lev fell off the monkeybars again. He got up and made his way over too. “Did you come to play too?” he asked, that insanely cute and idiotic grin of his taking over his face.

“Rei-chan lives right there!” one little boy, Toru said. He pointed to the large apartment building just across the street.

Two of the girls nodded. They were the twins Yuki and Yumi. They lived in the apartment right across he hall from me and mom. “Sa-chan's bedroom's right there! Third floor, third window from the left!” the two said in unison.

Lev stared for a moment, probably counting it out to figure out which one it was. “Is that a Hello Kitty sticker on the window?”

“That was there when we moved in,” I said, nodding. The family that lived there before us had had a daughter name Kanna who'd been obsessed with Hello Kitty. The poor girl had been so heartbroken when they couldn't get it off so I'd ended up buying her a new one just like it. Little Kanna was so happy that after that she would send me a handmade Christmas card every year. And a card for pretty much every other holiday too. Even Valentines Day. “It won't come off. But it's cute, so I don't really mind.”

As the kids started talking all about how I would usually spend my free time teaching them to play soccer or just simply playing games with them, a thought crossed my mind. “What are you doing here, Lev?” I knew he didn't live here. Not only did I know everyone in the building, but I'd also been to Lev's house most of the days this week. Plus I'd never actually seen him around here before now. In fact it almost made me wonder if he'd been stalking me or something.

“Lev comes out to play sometimes!” little Toru said excitedly. “But he can only come here on the weekends because he started playing volleyball.”

The twins nodded, agreeing with their friend. “He says that when he gets better he'll teach us!”

I couldn't help but laugh. “Well I hate to tell you, but that'll be a long time. He'd actually very terrible at volleyball.” It was a bit mean to sell him out like that, but seeing such an adorable pouty face on that energetic giant made it worth it.

Everyone all turned to face Lev. He wasn't denying it, so I assumed that he was aware of just how bad he was. “I'll get better and I'll be the ace!” His enthusiasm was more than enough to get the kids excited in cheering.

And before I knew it I was smiling and thinking how sweet he could be. It was then that I should have realized that Lev was about make a big difference in my life.


End file.
